Hooray! Crochet Giveaway

by Kelly

We're having a giveaway!

Lately we've been working on improving our shop, and we've decided that we could use a little impartial advice. In return for your help, you'll earn a chance to win some cool crochet stuff. We'll get to the rules in just a second, but first let's talk about the prizes.

We worked hard to choose things that would be useful and interesting to all crocheters, whether they're just starting out or are very experienced.

 Here are the items that you might win!

•  an exclusive 50% off coupon code for our shop.
• Two sets of Susan Bates crochet hooks.  Eleven hooks total.
• 2012 Crochet pattern calendar
• 50 More Crocheted Afghan Borders by Jean Leinhauser

The Susan Bates crochet hooks are Silvalumes and Crystalites, size F5 (3.75mm) through size K10.5 (6.5mm) And yes, folks, those are the old style Silvalumes. There's a bit of controversy over their recent redesign, so if you've been looking for the originals, here's your chance to win a set.

There are three ways to enter our Hooray! Crochet giveaway.

1. Leave a comment on this post.

2. Check out our shop over there in the sidebar or at this link and pick out your favorite item, then tell us what it was in your comment.

3. Give us ideas! Name one thing that isn't in our shop that you would like to see. And no, it doesn't have to be a crochet item or crochet supplies. Between us we also embroider, cross stitch, do plastic canvas work, quilt, knit, and spend a lot of time in our respective gardens.

If you do all of the above, you will receive three entries for the giveaway.

That's all you have to do! And don't worry if your comments don't appear right away - our moderation is on to prevent spam from clogging the giveaway.
 
 The giveaway will end on  February 7th, 2012. The winner will be announced in a blog post on February 8th, and contacted by email if that information is provided. The winner must respond within 48 hours or a new winner will be chosen. When the winner has contacted us, we will officially close the contest with a final giveaway post.

                                    Technical Stuff

Please make sure your name is unique. Example: 'Kelly 178' or 'applejacks' would be good choices.

Winner will be chosen by use of random.org.

International shipping available for the giveaway, so if you're outside the U.S. you're welcome and eligible to win!


Good luck everyone! We can't wait to see your comments and suggestions!

 You will notice a lot of deleted posts in the comment section. This is solely because of my inexperience in handling this amount of action on our blog. If your email has been accidentally posted so that it is visible, you have my sincerest apologies. I am currently reading through every comment to ensure that all private info is indeed private. If your comment was deleted, it will be restored in such a way that your privacy is ensured. This may take some time.
Once again, I am truly sorry that this happened.  - Kelly

Craft Cruise

Is it wrong to ask your husband to spend his 15th anniversary on a crochet cruise?

I really hope the answer is no because after much searching and hoping and letter writing, my wait is finally over - the perfect craft cruise!

http://www.craftcruises.com/ offers some amazing knitting cruises. I have been stalking their site for over a year waiting for a crochet cruise. I even resorted to writing an email to them to ask if they were doing any crochet cruises this year. Well here it is...

A 6 night Bermuda cruise featuring guest host Drew Emborsky (aka The Crochet Dude)! Pink Sand, Afternoon Tea and Shorts! Plus the cruise leaves from Baltimore (an easy drive for us), we've been wanting to do a Bermuda trip and it's over our anniversary - sounds perfect to me. It's on Royal Carribean Enchantment of the Seas (we just went on a Royal cruise in November and it was great). They will have classes on board and yarn shopping excursions - I mean really, what's not to love.

All aboard?

Multi-Color Scarf Contest

Want to win $250 dollars in yarn! Who doesn't? Enter the Tahki Yarns Cotton Classic and Cotton Classic Lite COLORPLAY Reader Challenge - check out http://www.crochetme.com/content/Contests.aspx

Readers cast their votes for the most creative knit and crochet scarfs - must use at least 4 colors of Cotton Classic or Cotton Classic Lite.

This sounds like a nice contest to enter - since I know you can all makes scarves!

Crochet and Knitting Contests 2012

by Kelly

                                Pincushion Contest

Knitting Daily is having a design contest! Design a pincushion in any of their five categories (knitting, crochet, beading, needlework, or lacemaking/tatting).

Submit your design by April 16, 2012 to win a top prize of $500.00. Entries must be no larger than 4" x 4" x 4". Click here for more details. Just to give you an idea of what you're up against, here's last year's grand prize winner.

knittingdaily

                                     Iron Craft 2012

This is a creative challenge, not a contest, but it still looks like a lot of fun. During 2012, Just Crafty Enough will pose 26 separate crafty challenges. Participants will have two weeks to prepare their entry. Visit their site to register. The first challenge will be January 4th, 2012.

Check out some of the challenges from 2011 here.

             Knitting and Crochet Pattern-a-Day Calender

Entries are closed for 2012, but they are now taking new, original patterns for their 2013 Calender. Check out rules and details here.


 Added Feb.27th:

Lion Brand Yarn is hosting the Martha Stewart Crafts Contest

You must be a 18 years old and a US resident to enter. Knit, crochet or weave a project using Martha Stewart's Crafts Yarn, then submit a photo of your project digitally or by mail. Grand prize is 100 skeins of yarn. Entries must be received by April 12, 2012. Visit the  Lion Brand Yarn contest page for more details.

Embroidery Contests 2012

by Kelly

Hand and Lock embroidery contest for 2012. Open to students worldwide, including graduate and part-time. Submission must be an original work based on their list of three fashion trends  predicted for 2012.

First prize is $5,000 USD plus some extras, including publicity on their site. There is an entry fee required to register.

I thought their predicted fashion trends were interesting. Here is a brief rundown:

Faded summers -
Use faded colors and fabrics reminiscent of old postcards. Some of the suggested inspirations include 'Vintage street parties, bunting and national flags.' When I read this I couldn't help but think of the tomato hurtling celebration held in Spain every year. Hey, that's a street party, isn't it?


Association D'ermites - 
(hermit inspired) This category sounds a bit rambling, which I suppose is appropriate for a hermit lost in a hot, waterless desert, but basically you're supposed to use metallic blues and silvery colors to imitate a desert sky, or the reds and sandy colors of a desert sunset.




open mind -
basically a hodgepodge of fabrics and colors that 'refuses all dictates', so if you wanted to empty your scrap bag, this would be the category to use. Just so long as you maintain a 'restrained liveliness'.


As usual, I came up with a ton of ideas that would be quite neat to try, including a waterfall of stars over a desert landscape, which would fit the second category very well. Unfortunately, I have about five thousand other ideas that I'm working on at the moment, and don't meet the qualifications to enter this contest anyway, so if anyone would like to steal that idea for their submission, feel free. It could be truly beautiful, and people do say that the starry sky over a desert is breathtaking.

If you have a little free time, check out the description of categories here. (scroll down towards the bottom of the page). It's sort of amusing, and goes a long way towards explaining the odd designs I've seen on fashion show runways, if these are the kind of guidelines that designers are expected to follow.

2012 Knitting and Crochet Contests

by Kelly

Vanna's Choice Contest  here. For US and Canada only. Entries must be submitted by February 1st, 2012.. Projects must use Vanna yarn, and may be original design or from an existing pattern.

To enter, you photograph your finished project and submit it to the LionBrand site along with pattern information. There's also something requiring you to 'list the Michaels store'. I'm not sure if that means that you can't purchase the yarn online, or not.

About crochet is also holding a contest.Crochet an adult sized scarf, shawl, or pair of fingerless gloves, or a cushion cover, using the 'simple stitch' guidelines she provides. Entries must be received by January 14, 2012. The winners receive free publicity on her blog, pintrest, and facebook.

The Love Boat of Knitting

There are certain things that when you see them you think to yourself, "What could be better than that". Chocolate and strawberries, a day off work and a spa gift certificate, a husband in the dog-house on the same day Zales is having a huge sale - you get the point. Well, now imagine this - Knitting while on a cruise! Does it get any better than that? Although a veteran cruiser, I have never joined a theme cruise. I've thought about them. Even pitched the trivia and baseball themed cruises to the hubs. But we've never quite managed to pull it off. And while I doubt we'll set sail this year, it's fun to think about a ship full of crafty souls and a yarn store in every port!

If you're interested in crafty cruises check out http://www.craftcruises.com/ There is a small but nice selection including an upcoming Bermuda and Alaska sailing as well as a Canada and New England. I have to say I'm intrigued.

Yarn Bombing and other Events June 11, 2011

by Kelly

To celebrate the first International Yarn Bombing Day, certain Michaels stores are having a knit-a-long. Check out the post on CraftGossip here . If you're in Dallas, Chicago, Burbank or Toronto, stop by, check out some of the work of your local yarn bombers, and maybe help knit a blanket for charity. Oh, and don't forget this coupon, in case you need something from the store.


In Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, they're celebrating World Wide Knit in Public Day on June 11th. Not that I know anyone from Australia. Not at all. Click here for the link.

And if you're part of a group contributing to Yarn Bombing Day, you can have your work immortalized in the documentary someone is making.


Here is their official call:
WE WANT YOUR IYBD FOOTAGE! My crew and I can only be in one place at a time, but we want to gather as much footage as possible for an elaborate montage of bombers around the world. If you plan on taking part of any project and plan to have video, pictures, or any other documentation, please send it to us. This is an imperative part of the film.

You can upload any materials you have to www.wetransfer.com (up to 2 GB) or www.yourfilelink.com (up to 5GB).
-When upload is complete it will give a link to the file.
-Email this link to freelancelot002@gmail.com. 


And by the way, there are no good images online of yarnbombing in Chicago. So if you see anything tomorrow, please, please take a picture of it. In the meantime, here is an image from Paris. I thought it would be inspirational for Chicagoans.

For more pothole filling Paris pictures, check out Julianna Herrara's flickr

Double Stitch Twins in Chicago

by Kelly

Fresh from the Red Heart blog,  here's a bit of local news. On Saturday, June 4th, the Double Stitch twins will be at the Michaels craft store to demo a scarf and sign copies of their new book.

The address is 3131 N. Clark. St.

Go on over to the Red Heart site for more details and a video.

Red Heart also has a new yarn line coming out, and an interesting video on how to hand chain a scarf without a crochet hook or knitting needles. Check that out here.

Crochet and Knitting Contests for 2011

by Kelly

Ending June 13th - Mary Maxim - Original design afghan and Holiday Crafts Contest. Top prize is $2000. The link is here.

Ending June 15th - Herrschners - Original design afghan contest. Top prize is $2500. The link is here.

These first two were only included because they seem to be annual events. No guarantee that they will be held next year, but there's a pretty good chance.


Ending June 30th - Good Karma Farm Knitting and Crochet contest. Knit or crochet a scarf using only one skein of Good Karma Farm wool. Prize is eight skeins of their Merino/Alpaca yarn. The link is here.

Ending August 15th - Knitting and Crochet 2013 Calender contest. Original designs in knit or crochet. Short patterns only. First prize is $500, and you receive a free calendar with every entry. The link is here.

Ending August 31st - CGOA Design Competition. You must be a member of CGOA to participate. Original design contest with seven categories including fashion, accessories, small scale and afghans. Prizes - An unspecified grand prize, $300 first prize, $200 second prize, and $100 third prize in each category.  The link is here, look in their right sidebar for the contest.


And finally, here's an easy one. Red Heart is having a Retweet contest for June 2011. No original design required, just retweet their post and earn an entry for a chance to win some of their new Red Heart yarn.

Yarn Bombing Upcoming Events

by Kelly

Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

Yarn bombing is a kind of street art or graffiti that originally began as a way to brighten and warm up cold, sterile looking public spaces. Think of it as making a tea cozy, only on a very large scale.

Apparently, June 11th, 2011 has been declared International Yarn Bombing Day. Who knew? Well, all these groups of knitters and crocheters around the world, that's who.

So mark it on your calenders, and keep your eyes peeled, because all these secretive crafters have been plotting their yarn bombing for months, and they just might come to a town near you. 

More images at yarnbombing.com.

Save the Dates

Some fun needle events coming up this summer...

Every 1st Wednesday of the month, the Lockport Public Library hosts Hooks & Needles from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. I've gone a couple of times and it's a nice, low-key stitch and bitch - multi-generational and free cookies - how bad can that be?

Head to Milwaukee on June 21st for Stitch & Pitch - combining a night of baseball with needlecraft - not too weird! We LOVE Milwaukee and Miller Park is an awesome venue for baseball. We've been up there once already this year and plan to head out a couple more times before the season ends. And while you must have a beer and a brat, save room for all the other great food north of the cheddar curtain. I saw a plate of cheese curds that I'm definitely getting next time. Other teams participate in Stitch & Pitch as well - Chicago White Sox (Sept 10th) - check http://www.stitchnpitch.com/ for schedules.

And finally - Stitches Midwest comes to the Renaissaince Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center August 26-28th. The Mac Daddy of needlecraft shows, there are classes and seminars or just wander around the exhibit floor loading up on all the new yarn and information out there. This one is a bit daunting, but this may be my year to brave the crowds.
http://www.knittinguniverse.com/stitches/midwest